There was press silence about the hacking of Macron’s campaign because authorities said disseminating these stolen emails, intermingled with propaganda, may be treated as criminal activity.
Authorities warn against spread of leaked Macron data as France prepares to vote – SBS
https://apple.news/A5tk7AiApNVmVBF0aBBPRvA

if only we had the same law…
LikeLike
I figure tRump does a lot of maneuvering of the press so that we will forget that Russia influenced his election.
I’d like to know what the FBI and CIA are doing in this matter. Hopefully it is still being investigated.
We need an independent investigation to work on this. Forget the House and Senate investigations. They have too much invested in Trump the Republican to ever get anything done. They worked overtime to harass Hillary but don’t seem to have the same enthusiasm, and certainly less money, to the cause of finding the truth about Agent Orange.
LikeLike
Making leaks a crime is a slippery slope. Be careful what you do neo-liberals!
LikeLike
Stealing emails is not a leak. It’s a theft.
LikeLike
Agree. NEO-liberalism is what got us in this mess. NEO anything is questionable.
LikeLike
While I’m certainly not an expert on France or French law, the ANSSI (France’s government cyber security agency) said the leaked data had been “fraudulently” obtained and that fake news was probably mingled in with it. I read that as fraud is a crime.
Where would the slippery slope be?
LikeLike
in 1972, some robbers broke into the DNC and stole files in hopes of swaying the election. They were caught and punished. In 2016, someone broke into the DNC and stole files in hopes of swaying the election. They were not caught. They were successful.
That is not a leak. That is theft.
When someone shares a draft of an executive order in hopes of stopping something awful, that is a leak, not a theft.
When someone inside the government releases secret files in hopes of ending the Vietnam War, that was a leak, not a theft. That was Daniel Ellsberg. He was prosecute but walked free.
When someone leaks the names of undercover CIA operatives working inside a foreign country and those agents are murdered, what do you call that? A leak, a theft or an accomplice to murder? That happened too and the agent was Philip Agee.
There is a slippery slope but I conclude hacking into into someone’s computer is a theft, not a leak. A theft is when someone breaks in to take what was not theirs. A leak is when someone ingovernment shares what they know with the press.
Face it. No future election is safe from hackers. What will that do to democratic elections in every country, especially when real files are knowingly mingled with lies and propaganda, intended to discredit the candidate?
LikeLike
I was a poll clerk at a recent NW Indiana referendum on raising taxes for public schools. I also was a poll clerk in the last Nov. 8 election.
I worry that the high tech Apple tablets that are used in all Indiana elections can be, or will be, manipulated by powers who want a certain result to appear.
I know the old days of paper ballots won’t return but they were much safer and it was possible to check back and see how each voter voted. There is no such check on today’s computerized version of voting.
If Russia, or any other interested country, can influence our elections who is to say that the current modernized, computerized election results aren’t being tampered with? With budget restraints, who is concerned or checking?
What happens in the future when these tablets are considered outdated and easy to hack?
LikeLike
Carol,
The voting machines in NY were the best in the country as judged by independent analysts–0% error–but they were declared obsolete by state officials who switched to electronic machines. The old ones, which involved pulling a lever to register your choices, are no longer made. They could not be hacked.
LikeLike
Thanks, Diane! True.
LikeLike